A senior Tory MP has called for a ban on legal disclaimers at the bottom of emails, which he has branded “meaningless missives” that lead to “forests’ worth of paper” being wasted when emails are printed out.
Sir Alan Duncan, MP for Rutland and Melton and former Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform presented a bill that would outlaw the practice, although it would only initially cover public bodies.
He said disclaimers were a hangover from the early days of the Internet and could be replaced with a link to an attachment. “We have all been there,” he said. “A short email comes in from a friend, colleague or company and we hit print and then we look in horror as page after page spews out.”
Praising the rise of the Internet he maintained: “This moment of innovative genius should not be allowed to be tarnished by the very worst of sluggish, bureaucratic verbiage that is represented by the email disclaimer.” He went on to claim that the Labour Party’s version ran to 183 words.
The bill, introduced under the 10-minute rule, would ban the practice but in the meantime he urged those with the power to do so to amend long disclaimers voluntarily. The legislation was accepted at first reading, but is unlikely to become law without Government support due to a lack of parliamentary time.